Although the weather wasn't cooperating we enjoyed Newport. The 1st tender appeared to be a local and after 15 minutes of trying to tie up, they gave up and herded us down to midship to board a Celebrity tender. Finally reaching land, we stumbled around a bit thinking we could pick up the public bus to the mansions anywhere. We were directed back to the visitor's center / bus terminal. There we picked up all day passes and some directions to a drug store to buy a curling iron since my better half had not only forgotten but left plugged in back home. The 10 minute ride to the Breaker's on Bus #17 was garbled with an occasional grunt from the bus driver about what we were passing. I shouldn't have expected more. How they tolerate us tourists is beyond me.

The bus dropped us right outside the Breaker's and we got right in after buying tix at the gate. The individual head sets were great although anybody who didn't have them and talked alot during the tour was distracting. After a nice 45 minute tour of the opulence of the Vanderbilt's we found our way to the Cliff Walk which would have been nicer in better weather. I originally had intentions of walkig most of the 6+ miles of Cliff Walk but ended up only doing about 45 minutes. The next exit was over a mile and we had seen enough. We made our way back to the street and easily caught another bus. We might have had time for another mansion but it would have been pushing it and besides, we were on a mission to purchase a curling iron.

The lines back at the dock were a little long but moved well when a tender was available.

I would recommend seeing the mansions and Cliff Walk and hope you have better weather.

What can I say about Bermuda that hasn't already been said? Beautiful, friendly, easy to get around. I believe this was the 1st time we ever overnighted in a port and we still didn't take advantage. There was supposed to be a street fair in downtown Hamilton on Wednesday night that I wanted to catch but for the life of me I didn't see any ferries coming or going from King's Wharf. Maybe it was too early in the season.

They've really improved the general area of King's Wharf since we were last there 17 years ago. Almost too touristy now. The glass factory with live demos is a nice touch. There were 2 ships in port when we were there and the ferry lines were long. But they got most of the people on when they came along. Snorkel Park gives you a taste of what a Bermuda beach looks like but if you don't go to Horseshoe or one of the other fantastic beaches you're missing out. My biggest problem, even on a nice day the water's too cold in early May.

The bar (Frog and Onion??) at King's Wharf had a Cinco de Mayo party for the ship's crews which some enjoyed a little too much. I know our Ass't Waiter Antoine (not his real name) REALLY enjoyed it.

Although we didn't dock at St G's it was a 40 minute ferry ride from King's Wharf which made it uber convenient. It was our 1st visit as the last time in Bermuda we didn't make it to the far end of the islands. We caught the noon dunking which was cute but I recommend getting a viewpoint from the bridge side as they seemed to cater to that side more.

We mostly wandered around town on our own where a good map comes in handy. The one we ordered from the Bermuda website was adequate. Don't miss the unfinished church. On a sunny day it's quite photogenic. We were seriously considering the segues but it started to threaten rain so we just caught the #11 bus back to the ship. It really gave us a scenic ride back going by the airport, thru the big rock cut, stopping briefly at Hamilton and all the way back to King's Wharf. We stopped at one of the elementary schools along the way because the public buses are used as school buses at certain times of the the day. We picked up about a dozen kids and made a few extra stops on the way home. The kids were great.